Co-Design

A Democratic Approach to Project-Based Learning

by Bobby Shaddox

High Tech High Graduate School of Education San Diego, California

Copyright 2013 by Bobby Shaddox All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Printed in the United States of America First Printing, 2013 This book was published at The High Tech High Graduate School of Education 2861 Womble Rd. San Diego, CA 92106 www.bobbyshaddox.com www.hightechhigh.org

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Understandings Setting Findings Part 1 - Building The Classroom Community: Our First Project Part 2 - Planting the Seeds of Democratic Discussion & Decision-Making Part 3 - Collaboratively Designing The Project: Teachers & Students Part 4 - Doing The Project I. Independent Inquiry II. Spirit of Collaboration III. Mastery of Content Part 5 - Exhibiting The Project Part 6 - Finalizing The Project Conclusions/Implications Final Reflection 4 5 9 24

31 43 61 96 97 108 116 123 126 129 138 142 144

Chapter 4 Chapter 5

References Appendix (featuring Methods)

Acknowledgements

If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. I must express my gratitude for the wisdom and work of John Dewey, James A. Beane, Barbara Brodhagen, Mark Springer, Steven Levy, Ron Berger, Alfie Kohn, and many other progressive educators. Without their trailblazing work, this research would not exist. When I started this journey two years ago, I had no idea how powerful and life changing it would be. Of course, no journey is possible without the guidance, support and encouragement of friends and colleagues. It is with great pride that I finally present my work to these people (in its most complete form). By now, they know it as well as I do. First and foremost, I am grateful to all of the students who were co-designers in this expedition. Their willingness to try something new, their excitement for the project and endless effort are at the foundation of this work. Secondly, I must thank Allie Wong, my teaching partner, who played the role of co-researcher throughout this project. Her boundless enthusiasm and collaborative spirit took this experience to unimagined heights. Although she already holds a Master of Education degree, she deserves a second one for her efforts in this action research. I would like to especially thank my colleagues throughout the High Tech High schools for their endless encouragement and continued collegiality. Sarah Emerson, my wife, deserves standout recognition for her constant support and encouragement during this research. She offered an open ear and sound advice when I faced great challenges. She is an impeccable editor and has taught me to stop writing in the passive voice. Over the last two years at the High Tech High Graduate School of Education, I worked with so many insightful and innovative people. Rob Riordan was the ideal mentor. He is an expert listener and asks brilliant questions. He continually allowed me to discover my own conclusions and chart my own course while offering straightforward and solid advice. Stacey Caillier, Director of the Teacher Leadership program, has been an inspiration during this process. She is a constructivist she-devil who models thoughtful pedagogy and gracefully cheers on exhausted teachers as they push through their theses. And she does it with a big smile. This year, I was fortunate to be paired with a critical friend, Stephanie Lytle. She also explored co-design with her seniors. Our many conversations were exciting and revelatory. I would like to thank David Price, Alec Patton and the delightful teachers at Noadswood School in Hampshire, England who inspired me with their efforts in enquiry-based learning. Finally, my thanks to Susan and Tom Shaddox, my parents, who will now know why I have been so busy lately. They have always encouraged me to write. Now Ive written a book.

Introduction

Beyond The Blue Horizon

It was 2007, my first year at High Tech Middle San Diegos premier projectbased learning school. I was about to launch my first project to a group of 8th graders. It had a simple, yet academically rich design. I even based it around Californias standards for Social Studies and English Language Arts. To top it off, I gave it a catchy name Beyond the Blue Horizon. The basic premise was that each pair of students would research a European explorer, create a map of their exploration of the Americas, write and record three journal entries and embed them on a class web page shared with elementary students. At the time, I was fascinated by the exploration of the Americas and had discovered rich print and Web resources that I was excited for my students to use. I even spent four weeks writing the project syllabus, making sure to include every last detail, including clear benchmark assignments, due dates and a clear rubric. Heck, I designed a custom logo for the project! Based on what I knew about project-based learning, it was infallible.

There was one major problem. I had considered everything, except the students! Where was the consideration of the opinions, interests, skills and backgrounds of the 56 people with whom I would be embarking on this project? I will never forget the mix of reactions from my students as I passed out the syllabus for Beyond The Blue Horizon. The overall mood ranged from disappointment to mild defiance. Athena asked, Why do we have to study these explorers again? Her friend Mason muttered, Yeah, we did a project just like this in 4th grade.


Angeline noticed, Mr. Shaddox, there arent any female explorers in this project. This sucks. Other students continued to chime in. Can we choose explorers who arent on this list? Do we have to make a map? Why cant we study the American Revolution? Audio recording? Cant we make a movie or write a book? Yikes. I hadnt even considered these possibilities. I constructed a safe, fossilized response, Well, this is the project everyone in our class will be doing. Were going to stick to the syllabus. Id like you to put forth your best effort. By presenting that syllabus, I imposed learning requirements and deadlines upon my students, whose opinions I had not even considered. I was surprised with their reaction, but I shouldnt have been. Their comments demonstrated that they thought the requirements of Beyond the Blue Horizon were unfair, and they were right. This was my first clear glimpse of the imbalance of power between teacher and students. I had all of the power. The students had none. Although I made small strides to incorporate voice and choice into my approach with students, it wasnt until three years later that things really changed. Enquiry & Awakening in England In 2011, I led a series of staff development workshops about peer critique and project-based learning in England. On this trip, that seed of doubt regarding teacher-designed projects that had been planted back in 2007 emerged as a blossoming reality. The teachers at Noadswood Academy in Southampton had implemented enquiry-based learning (EBL enquiry in the U.K.) in their classrooms. They were looking for strategies to improve the quality of their students work and overall structure of their projects. I was immediately struck by the inquisitive, student-centered nature of the projects. The only element that was pre-decided by the teachers was the theme. In this case, the adults chose conflict. From this central theme, students were given the opportunity to design the following: 1) Learning action plan involving an enquiry (a big question to drive the project) 2) Method of conducting research 3) Product to demonstrate student learning.


I was surprised and impressed by the sense of ownership the students felt for the project. And I was inspired. Thirty students were managing their own learning, all simultaneously working at various levels. Compared to my students projects, the U.K. students had a heightened level of inquiry and collaborative design between themselves and their teachers (which from this point forward I will refer to as co-design). During one of my dialogues with the staff of Noadswood Academy, Steve (a history teacher) commented, Bobby, it seems that were looking to inject a little more P [project] into our EBL, and you could stand to add more E [enquiry] into your PBL. He hit the nail on the head. As the teacher, I developed the inquiries for learning in my classroom and designed all of the projects. I returned from my trip to England with a new mission. I would increase the level of student-generated inquiry and co-design in my classs project-based learning. Co-design & Inquiry-Based Learning: The First Voyage The following year my class embarked on the Experience San Diego Project. I took what I had learned from Noadswoods teachers and designed a project built upon the interests and questions of my students, while sticking to the overarching theme of our local community. I previewed the general idea for the project with a sample group of students in a project-tuning (a student-centered dialogue that sought the input and advice of my students see Appendix A for the protocol). Based on their feedback, I made changes to the project design and presented it to the rest of the class. The project called for students to select any topic in San Diego County, develop an inquiry about it and write an article for a student-published book. When I presented the project syllabus to my 6th graders, their reactions were the polar opposite of the students during the Beyond the Blue Horizon project. Madeline, a student who had previously attended a very traditional public school in Chicago, excitedly raised her hand and exclaimed, Wait a


second. Mr. Shaddox, are you kidding around? Is this for real? We can research what we want? I grinned and replied, Absolutely. Why does it seem unbelievable to you? Well, Ive never heard of a teacher letting kids do stuff like this before. The Experience San Diego project was my first genuine foray into collaborativedesign and inquiry-based learning. The challenges were immense. Students required individualized permission slips and rides for over 30 field trips; exhaustive coaching in their requests for interviews and careful guidance in choosing appropriate and relevant topics and inquiries. Even as I write this, the project has not been completed. Editing thirty articles for accuracy has proven to be more difficult to manage than I had ever imagined. However, do these minor setbacks eclipse the successes of the project? No way. Throughout the Experience San Diego Project I got a taste of a new kind of learning in my classroom. I saw two relatively disengaged eleven-year-old boys Dale and Jeremiah develop sincere enthusiasm and curiosity about their learning. I watched shy, timid Eleanor and Kalinda come out of their shells and arrange a life-changing field trip to an exotic animal recovery center. They wrote an article that could serve as the organizations manifesto. Penelope, who had long been fascinated with the Hotel Del Coronado, learned the A to Zs of preventative architectural maintenance. She developed a new found excitement for architecture that could lead to an incredible career. How could I have designed a project like this on my own? I simply couldnt. Thanks to the input of my 6th graders, we were able to create a project that exceeded anything I had ever experienced it tapped into their interests, captured their voices and engaged them as never before. Now I wanted to take it to the next level. Action Research: Taking the Next Step The next semester, I pursued further democratic, co-designs with my students. This time, we started from scratch and all of the ideas were developed together. My research was driven by the question, What happens when I collaboratively design projects with students? I wanted to see what would happen to my students sense of engagement, curiosity, ownership, confidence and overall attitude towards learning and collaboration as we designed a semester project together. I discovered that this approach served as the foundation for creating increasingly driven, empowered and creative students.